Page 76 of Rio

“I know.”It’s barely a whisper.

“It’s no safer outside.”He glances at the door.

I wish I hadn’t come here.Was it worth it?Maybe.But I want to make it out alive.

“Now we’re stuck here,” he says, taking his shirt off until he’s standing in front of me, his muscles and abs rippling under a sheen of dampness.I suddenly feel hotter.Forcing myself to look away, I stare at a gap in the wall.

“I didn’t ask you to come looking for me.I’m not a damsel in distress.I can take of myself.”

“You think so?”He shoots me a look that makes my stomach wither.“Look where we are.And it’s a tin roof.”He gestures around the battered living space.

I hear him, and I’m all too aware of the danger.But I wish he’d put that shirt back on.Instead he spreads it out over a rickety chair, and he looks as sexy as sin, distracting as hell, and as infuriating as only a Knight knows how.

“Again, I didn’t ask you to come looking for me.”I slap a hand across my slick neck.My tank top sticks to me, and that I’m certain I look a disheveled sight.My frayed denim shorts feel heavy and uncomfortable, and if I didn’t have a visitor, I would have taken them off.

“I’m not going to argue with you about this now.I’m here, and I’m going to do my damndest to make sure we’re safe.”

“I hope Daddy Knight doesn’t sue me to death, if anything happens to his beloved son.”

A muscle ticks along the side of his jaw.He frowns, like he’s about to say something, and I feel the weight of his stare.Wish I’d kept my mouth shut, because he must think I’m such an ungrateful woman.I clear my throat.

“You said you believe me.So, have you stopped believing the lies you’re being fed?”

“I came here to smooth things.To calm things down.I wasn’t aware of what was going on, but now I believe something definitely is going on, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

“It’s not hard to do.You should try using your eyes.Didn’t you see the dying mangroves?”

He turns silent.His brows pushing together like he’s thinking about it.“You hate the Knights.”

That’s his rebuttal?

“I have good reason to.”

“You hate us because your warped sense of belief tells you we’re the bad guys.That we’re out to damage the world and take everything from people less fortunate than us.”

“But that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

He shakes his head, looking as perplexed by my stance as I am about his.

“Don’t you see the damage?”I snap.“Didn’t you hear the people at the community hall?You’d have to be blind and deaf, or willingly callous, not to.”

He lets out a loud sigh, hands on hips, rain still dripping off him.“We try to be ethical, most of the time.Sometimes, it’s not possible, and we do the best we can, for the land and the people.”

“That’s what you tell yourself,” I snarl.“Why are you dumping construction runoff near protected mangroves?You might think you’re He-Man, fighting the elements to come and find me, but when the storm calms down, I invite you to come out here again and take a good look with wide open eyes.See for yourself.I’m shocked that you still haven’t managed an inspection.”

“My old man says the indigenous communities exaggerate damage to get leverage, and sometimes to extort corporations.That it’s climate change, not Delport, or Knight Enterprises, ruining the coastline.”

I can’t believe my ears.“Do you seriously believe that?”

“It’s what he says but, the truth is, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”He pauses, looking more conflicted than ever.“But I’m not ignoring it now.”

The wind howls like a banshee, causing the roof of the hut to shake again.I look up, feel suddenly scared that it could cave in.Wind whistles through a gap in the wall, cooling my skin, and I become more afraid with each passing minute.

I’m glad Rio is here.I wouldn’t want to spend the night alone.He’s right.I could have been in extreme danger.I probably still am, and I’ve also now put him in danger.

The light of the lamp flickers as if it’s on its last few breaths before dying.The light in the huts dims, and soon we’ll be in utter darkness.

“I’m not as bad as you think,” he says, quietly.